June

In June we went camping twice, went to the State Fair and saw the circus there, flew kites and Ryan went on some bike rides.

Ryan roto-tilling Mom and Dad's yard.

 The kids at our campsite - just a short way up the Laie Falls trail.

 Carrying our packs...

 She's such a good hiker - if she wants to be.

 Reading to her brother at the fireside.

 

  

Bird-watching.

 Mom came to the state fair with us one Friday night.  We went on the Ferris Wheel, the Merry-Go-Round, and Cora and Ryan went on a big kid ride where they drop you.  We also saw a trained lion show and a circus - both really fun shows.  Elijah loved the lions, of course, he kept patting his Daddy and pointing to the lions, and growling.  

After the circus we took pictures with the performers - Mom and Cora matched the trapeze artists.

 And Elijah matched the clown!

 Ryan biking...

 Flying Cora's $1 kite from Walmart - we fully expected it to break immediately but it held up just fine and flew great in the wind!  Good cheap fun.

 Biking at Peacock Flats in Mahaka.

 Silly picture of me but it shows our cute new tent.  This was the second time we went backpacking/camping - same site.  The kids love it - Cora didn't want to come off the mountain - she wanted to live there.  They both have a really hard time sleeping in the tent though, so it was a pretty exhausting night both times. But other than that, it's a lot of fun!  S'mores for Ryan, Elijah and me, barely warmed marshmallows for our impatient daughter, playing with flashlights at night, playing horsey on the fallen trees, gathering pine needles and wood for fires,...  It's definitely something we want to do more of as a family.

It rained during the night and we were really tired in the morning, so instead of building a fire we had bread and canned peaches for breakfast and packed up and headed down. 

May

What did we do in May? We picnic-ed, hung out, ate shave ice, celebrated Dad's birthday, went to the zoo, hiked, played...

These were at Hau'ula Beach park - we thought we'd have a picnic dinner - it was was a little colder and windy-er than we anticipated.

 Cora naturally has some curl to her hair but I thought I'd try curlers one night after her shower - they only lasted a half hour or so before she wanted them out.

 We love getting shave ice from the Kaka family - one day we met up with our good friends Kalani, Noa and Tama there and the kids all wanted to ride home in the wagon together. So cute!

 Eating at Kahuku Grill on Dad's birthday!

 We'd wanted to take Elijah and Cora to the zoo for a long time and we finally made it!  Elijah was our little growler - he loved making lion noises and we just knew he would love seeing all the zoo animals!  Since then he's learned more animal noises - monkey, dog, fish...  Here he is pointing to the lions.

 And looking at the koi from inside the tank- check out Cora's pompom skirt I made.

 Cora was a little grumpy when this picture was taken but she had been playing tea party so cute with her little animals.

 Playing ball at the field one evening.

 We went for a hike on the Hau'ula Loop Trail - we didn't make it around the whole loop because Cora was walking on her own, but we got some great views and had a lot of fun.  Cora's a great hiker!

 She wanted to have a mustache like Daddy's.

Mom, Dad, Grandma and CW Visit Part II

At Haunama Bay:

 

 

At the Blowhole Overlook:

At the temple:

We tried to get some pics of the kids in their cute church clothes (I made Elijah's bow tie and pants) but these were the best we got - it was too windy and bright and they were tired and grouchy.

 Had to crop this one for modesty

At Sunset Beach:

At Laniakea Beach:

At Clisles:

 

Well that's all the pics!  We had a great time visiting with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Christopher.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and to have had them come out to see us!  The kids definitely miss them now but we were glad that they were able to spend this time with them - now when we do Facetime they really remember who everyone is.  We love our family so much!